Two indicted for downtown Springfield murder

Two Springfield men have been indicted and charged with the May stabbing death of a 59-year-old man in downtown Springfield.

By Chris DettroStaff Writer

Two Springfield men have been indicted and charged with the May stabbing death of a 59-year-old man in downtown Springfield.

Raymond J. McBride, 27, of the 1100 block of East Reynolds Street, and Christopher M. Coleman, 18, of the 1200 block of South Grand Avenue East, both were in custody in the Sangamon County Jail on unrelated charges Thursday when a grand jury indicted them.

Each man is charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery and theft in connection with the May 25 death of James M. Goins of Springfield.

Each pleaded not guilty to the new charges at an arraignment Thursday afternoon before Circuit Judge Pete Cavanagh. The Sangamon County public defender’s office was assigned to represent the two men. Their cases were assigned to Circuit Judge John Schmidt.

Springfield police were dispatched to the rear of a parking lot behind businesses in the 300 block of East Washington Street at 10:18 p.m. May 25 and found Goins on the ground and not breathing. He was pronounced dead at Memorial Medical Center less than an hour later.

He had a stab wound to his lower chest and bruising and swelling to his face.

A witness told police she saw a man standing next to a white Mercury sedan when two men approached, knocked him to the ground, took his car and sped away.

The victim briefly chased the two men on foot before collapsing, the witness told police.

The car was found early May 26 at the Quest Inn, 3125 Wide Track Drive.

Authorities say there is no indication that Goins knew either McBride or Coleman.

Coleman was in custody charged with the June 7 armed robbery of two men in an apartment in the 700 block of East Edwards Street. He also is charged with aggravated battery of a senior citizen in that case.

Coleman, 51-year-old Calvin Taylor and a third man allegedly knocked on the door of the apartment, then rushed in and robbed the occupants, a 73-year-old man and a 58-year-old man. Authorities say they took a Link card, cash, bus pass and cellphone from the men. The robbers punched the older victim in the face and head, and one of the men was armed with a box cutter, police said.

McBride also was in custody on robbery, theft and unlawful use of a weapon charges stemming from an unrelated May 11 incident in which he threatened someone with a knife. He was arrested in June.